


Storybook Ending

by madziraphale



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Dreams, F/M, Fluff, Hopeful Ending, Sappy, Sleepy Cuddles, Songfic, but it's soft, i can't think of great tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 09:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12429792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madziraphale/pseuds/madziraphale
Summary: Thalia and Alistair talk about how they'd want their "happily ever after" to go down.





	Storybook Ending

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all!
> 
> For some reason the other day, I couldn't seem to get the song "You and I" by Ingrid Michaelson out of my head (despite not having heard it in forever). What got me the most, though, was how well I thought it fit Alistair and the Warden. Or the Warden and anyone, honestly. They've got such a tragic future lined up for them, and I can only imagine what kind of feelings that must give them. Anyway, this is the product of my sad train of thought. Enjoy!

“Alistair?” Thalia’s voice was quiet in the dimness of their shared tent, “are you awake?” She hoped that, if he wasn’t, he would remain asleep, and that she wouldn’t have to share her embarrassing thoughts a lot. If he was awake…

“Mmm…yes, darling? Do you need something?” he slurred out. Thalia silently cursed, even as she felt the strong arm around her tighten and Alistair’s stubbly chin brush against her neck as he kissed her there, softly. The air between them was empty, save for the crackling of the fire outside and the sound of Leliana softly strumming her lute. Alistair seemed like he might say something again, but Thalia beat him to the punch.

“What do you think will happen to us? After…well. After all of this?” She spoke quickly, as if she were pulling burrs out of her bare feet. Better to get it over with quickly. Less pain, that way.

“It’s going to sound so _fucking_ stupid, but…I used to dream about what my life outside the circle would be like when I was young, I…wrote it down in a journal and everything, and…whenever I was having a bad day, I would read it, add more, try to make myself smile with some of the most ridiculous lies in all Thedas…” Amell trailed off, ashamed.

Alistair was silent for a long time, and Thalia hoped against all hope that he’d fallen asleep again. She was about to close her eyes, hoping to just forget she’d said any of it, when her warden lover spoke.

“We’d be rich, I’d reckon,” he said, almost whimsically. Thalia could hear the slight smile on his face. She felt him turn to lay on his back, and he pulled her right along with him, until she positioned herself against his side. She stared up at him, eyes wide in disbelief. Alistair simply stared at the roof of their tent, his hand rubbing shapes on Amell’s lower back.

“We could live wherever we wanted! _Do_ whatever we wanted! We’d buy Zevran the biggest house in Antiva, where he could live free of the crows and enjoy his favorite vintage of Antivan brandy whenever he wanted.” Thalia could see the stars in her lover’s eyes, and she sighed dreamily, snuggling herself even closer against him until no space was left between them.

“Leliana could have all the clothes and shoes she wanted,” Thalia continued, surprising Alistair, as his gaze whipped down to her, “she’d be the talk of Orlais, the best-dressed sister in the Chantry.” Thalia smiled at the thought of her dear friend decked out in the most opulent clothing imaginable.

“Wynne deserves a place of her own, I think,” Alistair continued, “where she could knit sweaters and make remedies for people. Somewhere quiet and wooded. With a dog. Everyone needs a dog.” Amell laughed a bit, nodding along with the idea.

“I’d buy Sten a bakery, with a crew to make him as many cookies as he pleased, and Shale could…well. Shale could do whatever they wanted. Destroying all the pigeons in Thedas would be my guess.” Alistair chortled at that idea, his nose crinkling in that certain way that made Thalia feel too warm inside.

“Oghren would be happy with a tankard and some stuff to kill,” Alistair continued, “but, I think with all that money we’ll have, we could set him up with his own mercenary company…or something else stabbity like that.”

“I think he’d like that,” Thalia replied softly.

“And then there’s Morrigan,” she added with a bit of finality, getting a good laugh out of Alistair’s frustrated groan. “I think she’d just like a library, big and opulent, full of any and all of the books she could get her hands on. Maybe even somewhere elegant, like Orlais.” Thalia laughed again at Alistair’s disgusted noise at the idea of Orlais, but it was cut short by the man himself.

“Actually, that might not be a bad idea,” he said thoughtfully, “keep two of my least favorite things in the same place, where I don’t have to deal with either of them.” Thalia slapped him lightly, though neither of them noticed as they shook with laughter. When they both quieted down again, the two took a moment to bask in the silence, though they both seemed to be avoiding the topic of—

“As for _us_ ,” Alistair was the one to break the ice, and Thalia felt herself stiffen, “I’d say we build a house on top of the tallest hill we can find.” His eyes never strayed from hers as he spoke, and, despite how much she wanted to, Thalia felt that she couldn’t look away.

“We’ll keep doing what we do so very well…and I don’t mean killing darkspawn,” he waggled his brows and squeezed Amell’s bottom, grinning ear-to-ear at her shriek. She slapped his chest again, but his joy was so all-encompassing that he couldn’t even feign injury.

“We’d be so high up, so far away, that we would only need to talk to people when we wanted to. We could raise a whole _farm_ of mabari up there, training them to be our own little private army. No more darkspawn or caves or mean sisters or Loghains or _anything_ bad. Just you and me. Ourselves. Together.” He said it with such confidence that, for a moment, Thalia believed that it could be true. She felt hot tears slip down her cheeks before she even realized they were coming.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Alistair shushed her, wiping gently under her eyes, “We don’t have to give up the caves if you like them that much.” That caused Thalia to laugh, though the tears kept coming.

“I-it’s not that,” she countered, voice wobbly, “I w-want that more than anything. To be with you, to be…” _Happy_. Oh, how she longed for that more than anything. To not have death looming over her, to not have to be the single hope of saving the world…to have nothing but her friends, her Alistair, and her dog.

Alistair pulled her tighter to him, kissing away the tears and brushing a hand through her hair gently. Peaches, noticing something was amiss, stood from her spot at their feet to plop unceremoniously on top of the two, her enormous tongue lapping up any tears Alistair may have missed.

“Peaches! Please! You’re ruining my smooth moves with your adorableness!” they both laughed at that, Thalia’s tears all but gone. She scratched Peaches behind the ear and gave her a soft thank you, and the mabari dutifully moved a little lower down, still refusing to leave her owner’s side, but giving the two wardens a bit of space not filled with dog breath. Alistair, still smiling, brushed some of Thalia’s hair behind her ear.

“Let’s keep dreaming about it then, yeah?” his voice was so soft and tender, Amell wondered how she’d lived this long without it in her life, “Whatever the future holds, we’ll be in it together. You and I…and Peaches.” Thalia kissed him then, full of all the love she could muster. Alistair kissed back just as fervently. They were so lost in each other that they didn’t notice Peaches’ soft harrumph as she left the tent entirely.

Thalia decided she needed to ask Bodhan if he and Sandal had any empty books in their inventory. She needed to start a new journal, one she hoped more than she’d hoped for anything before would become reality.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank y'all for reading! If you liked it, please consider leaving comments and/or kudos. It would really make my day!


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